


Guiding Light of the Moon

by MysteriousMister_M



Series: Taking a Break - A Pokemon Story [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Gen, Pokemon Journey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-06-09 16:26:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15271530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteriousMister_M/pseuds/MysteriousMister_M
Summary: When Professor Oak offers his intern, a quiet boy from Orre the chance to go on his own pokemon journey, how could he refuse? But as this new trainer finds out, sometimes a pokemon journey ends up being more than just about getting badges.





	1. The Eevee of Adventure

In the town of Pallet, a duo were sleeping under a tree. A young teen was resting against the sturdy tree, with a silver colored eevee curled up in his lap. Their nap was interrupted by the frantic shouts of an elder. “Dante!” The teen slowly opened his eye as he saw an elderly man in a lab coat hike up the hill he was resting on.  
The teen, Dante, was 15 years old, with dark brown hair and eyes. He was an intern for Professor Oak, who was the one climbing towards him. “What’s up boss? My break’s not up for… three minutes.” The boy calmly stated as he looked at his watch. The eevee gave a squeaky yawn and rolled in his lap. Oak took a deep breath. “Yes… but… the new… batch of starters… have arrived.” At this, the boy perked up and placed the eevee on his shoulder, where it flopped down and resumed its snoozing.  
The two ran down the hill, Oak muttering about his disliking of Dante’s nap locations. Once in Oak’s lab the duo ran to the a long table where three pokeballs were placed. “Some of my assistants must have already set them up.” Dante wasn’t listening, he was simply admiring the pokeballs. Each pokeball had a special decal on the front. One had a raindrop, one a flame, and the last one a leaf. “I assume you already know what’s in each.” Oak mused aloud. Dante nodded. In these pokeballs were the pokemon bulbasaur, charmander, and squirtle.  


Oak looked at the teen. “...Say Dante… Why haven’t you gone on your journey yet?” Dante shrugged, accidentally causing his eevee to slide off his shoulder and onto the floor with a squeak. "Well, in Orre there aren't any real wild pokemon. Everyone just buys them, or steals them off each other... Plus my parents hated pokemon, never wanted me near them." Oak’s face scrunched for a moment before exhaling. This had not been the first time he had been informed by his intern how different things in the Orre region were. “You know… I think it might be best for you to take a bit of a break from here, Dante. I’ve noticed you've been getting a bit stir crazy. I mean, how much of Pallet Town have you already looked over?” The professor asked rhetorically. At this Dante spun his head to the professor. “You’re not letting me go, are you Professor?” Seeing the worry in Dante's eyes, Oak sighed and held his face in his hand. “No lad, I’m telling you to take one of the starters and go on your journey.” At this, Dante’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious?” Oak only responded by walking towards a drawer, where he pulled out a sack, and a small red device. “I think this bag of pokeballs and pokedex should tell you I’m not joking. Now pick a starter.” At this, Dante crouched low so he was eye level with the table. After much thought and contemplation, Dante reached out towards the leftmost pokeball, which contained Bulbasaur.  


Once he grabbed it, the capsule opened and a beam of light burst from the ball, revealing the shape of the seed pokemon. The eevee carefully trotted over to the bulbasaur, squeaking out a greeting and licking its cheek. The bulbasaur responded by simply yawning and lying down on the floor, stretching out all of his stubby legs. Dante picked up his new bulbasaur, seemingly marveling at how relaxed it was. “Well, I always knew bulbasaur are the most relaxed of the starters, but I’ve never seen one like- Will you stop? It’s kinda weird.” Dante ceased his staring contest to look at the professor. “...What?”  


After some assorted paperwork was filled out, Dante walked out of Professor Oak’s lab, eevee and bulbasaur in tow. “Alright, I think the first thing I need to do is come up with a name for you Bulbasaur.” His bulbasaur looked up at him, slowly blinking. Dante picked up the green pokemon and resumed staring into its eyes. “...I’m thinking… Sprout. Sprout’s a good name.” Dante stopped as he felt a tugging at his leg. He looked down to see his eevee pulling on his pant leg with her mouth. “Oh Luna you baby.” Dante set Sprout down and then picked up the eevee, placing her upon his shoulder and walking out of Pallet, onto what will surely be a memorable adventure.


	2. Double Trouble

Dante took a deep breath of fresh air as he walked through Viridian City. The pokemon gym was closed that day, so Dante couldn’t challenge it. Not that he minded, he simply walked through the town, looking at everything. He had spent the past couple of months in Pallet Town, and had seen all that was there to seen multiple times within two weeks. Once out of the city Dante walked onto Route 2. There, he could see two Pidgeys pecking at the dirt. “Perfect, my first pokemon encounter.” Dante said, pulling out Sprout’s pokeball. “Sprout, Tackle!”

Dante shouted as he threw out the pokeball. His bulbasaur jumped out and immediately rushed at the pidgeys, both of which flew off. One however spun around in the air, flapping madly and creating a small tornado. Sprout dug his claws into the dirt as the tornado flew at him, buffeting him with winds. Dante shielded his eyes with his arm and Luna dug her face into his shoulder. “Okay, let's think… What moves could a bulbasaur know to counter a pidgey? Oh, I got it. Sprout, Leech Seed!” Sprouted nodded, a small brown seed poking out from his bulb. The bulbasaur bucked his hind legs, the seed shooting out from Sprout and towards the bird pokemon. The seed opened up, wrapping the pidgey in vines and closing its wings to its body and making it crash to the earth. “Now’s our chance. Sprout, tackle again!” Sprout growled and rushed at the pidgey. The bird craned its head towards the grass-type, and kicked at the earth with its foot, shooting dirt into Sprout’s eyes. The bulbasaur shook his head wildly, completely missing his mark and running off into some nearby shrubs. This gave the pidgey ample time to peck off the vines on its body and fly away.

Dante sighed as he followed the path his bulbasaur ran. Luna on the other hand hopped off his shoulder and started playing with the vine from Sprout’s leech seed. Dante found Sprout sticking his face into a small pond, trying to wash the sand out of his eyes. “Alright Sprout, return.” His bulbasaur looked up at him as the trainer pulled out his pokeball and returned Sprout to it. Dante returned to the path where his eevee had managed to stay put, distracted with the vine. “Okay, that’s kinda gross.” Dante said to himself as he picked up the eevee and placed her onto his shoulder again.

Continuing on Route 2, the trainer eventually made his way to Viridian Forest, a maze of trees that made travelling through it slightly difficult. As Dante made his way through, a small green pokemon slid down on a string in front of him suddenly. “Caterpie!” the small pokemon cried out before blasting Dante in the face with silk. “Agh! Okay then. May have struck out with the pidgeys, but I won't let this best me, you…” At this, Dante quickly pulled out his pokedex, which automatically activated and scanned the pokemon before him. “Caterpie, the Worm Pokemon. It is covered with a green skin. When it grows, it sheds the skin, covers itself with silk, and becomes a cocoon.” the pokedex read out. Dante nodded his head. “Right, I knew that. Luna, Quick Attack!” At this, the eevee jumped from his shoulder at blinding speeds, ramming into the caterpie. The impact caused the caterpie’s string to break and the two pokemon fell to the ground, the worm pokemon writhing from beneath her paw. “I think that looks weak enough. Pokeball, go!” At this, Dante threw a pokeball at the caterpie. Luna jumped back as the capsule made impact, sucking in the caterpie in a beam of red light. The pokeball centered itself on the ground and shook. Once, twice, three times. The center button flashed red for a moment and made a ding, signalling the capture of caterpie. Dante picked up the ball and smiled. “Welcome to the team, Felix.”

As Dante walked through the forest, he slowly gained a feeling of the area and managed to find his way to the exit. A sigh reading “Pewter City: ½ Mile Away” was propped up to a tree, and Dante smiled. He ran past it, hoping to be out of the forest. However, a rustling in a nearby bush caught his attention. Dante slowly made his way towards it, only to be met by a scyther bursting from the bush.

Dante screamed and dodged out of the way from the scyther, pulling out his pokedex again. “What is that thing and what is it doing here?!” Dante asked aloud, looking towards the pokedex for answers. “Scyther, the Mantis Pokemon. It tears and shreds prey with its wickedly sharp scythes. It very rarely spreads its wings to fly.” the pokedex answered, garnering the scyther’s attention. Dante gulped, panicking and throwing out a pokeball. “Felix, String Shot!” the caterpie popped out of the ball and with a squeak fired a stream of silk towards the mantis pokemon. The scyther swung its claw, shredding the string. Its wings then glowed white before it flapped them, sending waves of energy at Felix and knocking him back. “Scyther, there you are!” From the same bush the scyther came from, a bug catcher stepped out. Dante’s brow furrowed. “Hey man, what’s your problem? Your scyther nearly attacked me.” The bug catcher simply shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, sure. But I see you tried to fight back, so that means you’re challenging me to a battle!” The bug catcher declared, pointing a finger towards Dante. Dante’s brain couldn't comprehend the statement and was sputtering for an answer. “That- that doesn’t make any… fine, whatever.” Dante returned Felix and pulled out Sprout’s pokeball. Luna was curled on Dante’s shoulder, growling at the bug catcher. “Sprout, I choose you!” Dante cried as he released his bulbasaur.

“Scyther, Quick Attack!” The bug catcher commanded. The scyther nodded and flew to Sprout at a blinding speed, its scythes primed to attack. “Sprout, dodge and pull it with Vine Whip!” Dante countered. Sprout jumped out of the way -but not before Scyther nicked him with its claw- and shot a vine from under his bulb, wrapping around Scyther’s leg, spinning it with the momentum and flinging it into a tree. “Wing Attack now!” The bug catcher cried. Scyther’s wings started glowing white as it spun like a drill, blasting through the tree it was about to smash into and spinning into Sprout. Sprout braced for the attack as it hit, knocking him back a way. Luna, who was idly watching the battle from Dante’s shoulder gasped and jumped off, running towards the scyther and tackling it. “Well now. If you wanted a double battle you could’a just said so.” the bug catcher darkly chuckled as he pulled out a pokeball, opening it to unleash a very angry looking beedrill.


	3. Beedrilling for Answers

Dante gulped dryly. In front of him were two very large, very scary looking bug pokemon, controlled by a sadist holding a net and wearing a straw hat. Both of his current pokemon either couldn’t fight well against them or weren't strong enough, he knew that. This just meant that he would need to improvise something. “Alright… eevees… what do they learn…” Dante pondered to himself. “Beedrill, Fury Attack the eevee. Scyther, finish off that bulbasaur with cut!” The bug catcher cried as his pokemon striked. Beedrill assaulted Luna with its stingers, with Luna jumping to dodge the attacks. Scyther slashed at Sprout, who was knocked back by the attack. “I got it! Luna, Tail Whip!” Dante commanded. The eevee nodded and ran to a spot where both Scyther and Beedrill could see, and started to shake her tail. Both Scyther and Beedrill flew towards Luna.

“Fine, both of you, finish off that eevee!” The bug catcher demanded. The bugs flew with their arms raised. “Sprout, Leech Seed!” Dante shouted. Sprout fired a seed at Scyther, who got quickly tangled and fell to the ground, struggling against the vines. “And Luna, Quick Attack Scyther while it’s down!” Luna squeaked and ran towards the scyther. “Oh you won’t get away that easy! Beedrill, Poison Sting!” Beedrill angrily buzzed as the stinger on its abdomen glowed purple before firing a single pin at Luna and hitting her front leg. Luna’s attack made contact with Scyther as the poison sting hit, making Luna fly from the impact as well as fainting scyther.

Luna landed with a pained noise, before shakily standing up and coughing. “Oh, no. She got poisoned with that attack. Luna, Dig.” Dante commanded. He wasn’t sure if Luna knew that move, but it seemed a simple concept. Sure enough, Luna started to quickly dig a small hole, deep enough so that beedrill couldn’t reach into it. “Ha! Using cheap tactics to evade my pokemon? Pathetic.” The bug catcher smirked. Dante rolled his eyes. “Sprout, hide in the hole too.” The bulbasaur quickly ran in between the beedrill’s legs and also slid down the hole.

In the hole, Sprout was surprised to see a small room had already been dug by the eevee, who was panting in the middle of it. “Bulba, bulba bulba?(Hey, are you alright?)” Sprout asked, motioning towards her leg. The eevee looked towards him before nodding. “Ee. Eevee… Eevee ee eevee.(Yeah. just… Never really fought before.)” Up above ground the bug catcher growled. “Fine! Beedrill, Fury Attack at the ground!” Beedrill buzzed and raised its drill before powerfully shoving it into the ground. “Sprout, Vine Whip Beedrill to hold it!” Dante commanded. From the inner pocket Sprout shot out his vines, wrapping them around the beedrill’s wrist and pulling, dragging the beedrill into the room. “Now Luna, Dig out!” Luna ran towards Beedrill and tackled it, bursting out from the ground with it. Luna landed onto the ground with a yip, the beedrill following after, defeated.

Dante smiled and returned Sprout, while picking up Luna. “Oh, poor thing. You got poisoned. Here, I think I got something…” Dante said aloud as he dug through his bag, pulling out a spray bottle of orange liquid. A label on the bottle said “Poison Pokemon Antidote”. “This will probably sting a little…” Dante muttered as he sprayed the liquid into the eevee’s leg, making her screech. “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad.” Dante said. Luna responded by wriggling out her trainer’s arms and walking off towards the exit of the forest. Dante exhaled, relieved that he won his first trainer battle and walked on past the bug catcher, who was woefully trying to wake up his pokemon.


	4. A Pika-t the Future

Dante and Luna walked into Pewter City, a quaint town with cobblestone roads. As he looked around the area, the sound of shattered glass resonated through the air. “Hey, stop that pokemon!” a woman cried out. Dante ran towards the voice. The trainer stopped before the broken glass of a shattered window from a pokemart. The mart clerk was sticking her head out from the window and pointing towards the offender, a pikachu.

The pikachu, who was holding apples to its yellow chest looked towards Dante, before running in the other direction. Unlike most pikachu Dante had seen at the lab, who ran on four legs, this one awkwardly ran on its hind legs. Dante grabbed at a pokeball at his waist and tossed it up in the air. “Felix, String Shot!” the trainer cried as the caterpie escaped from his ball. Felix let out a shrill cry as he fired silk at the pikachu, wrapping around its middle. The pikachu stopped and looked down at itself, then back towards Dante and Felix. A smirk appeared on the pikachu’s face as it flashed white for a moment, then resumed running, now at an even greater speed. Felix squeaked as it was pulled off with Pikachu. “Oh, that must have been Agility. Come on Luna.” Dante said as he picked up his eevee and ran after them.

The pikachu, and poor Felix, were flying through Pewter City, down to Route 2. As Dante followed them, he observed that Felix had slowly been crawling up his string, getting closer to the pikachu. “Felix, Tackle!” Dante commanded. The pikachu stopped and turned its head, giving Felix the opportunity to lunge from his string and headbutt the pikachu. The pikachu fell back, sparks flying from it and touching Felix. Felix landed with a squeak, writhing on the ground as electricity crackled around him. “That pikachu paralyzed Felix without using an electric move. Must have been its ability. Felix, return.” Dante held out the caterpie’s pokeball but Felix jumped out of the way, a determined look on his face. “Okay… if you insist.” The pikachu got back up, sparks flying from its cheeks in anger, before it ran towards Felix. Felix spun around firing silk everywhere and catching the pikachu. The pikachu growled and thrashed, trapped in the strings. “Now Felix, finish it off with another Tackle!” Dante cried. Felix trilled and jumped towards the pikachu, headbutting it again. As the pikachu fell backwards, Dante tossed a pokeball at it, capturing it. The pokeball landed and wiggled three times before dinging. Dante walked over and picked up the pokeball. “Welcome to the team…" Dante paused, realizing he was not the best at naming pokemon. "...Sparky. And good job Feli- Felix?” Dante turned his head to see Felix wrapping his body in silk.

Once Felix was fully wrapped in silk, the silk started to expand and ripple, before deepening in color to green. Eyes on the side of the cocoon opened and looked up at the trainer. “Metapod.” Felix stated flatly. Dante grinned as Luna jumped from his shoulder to touch Felix with her paw. “Well look at that. You evolved into…” Dante pulled out his pokedex, scanning Felix’s new form. “Metapod, the Cocoon Pokemon. Even though it is encased in a sturdy shell, the body inside is tender. It can't withstand a harsh attack.” the small machine in the trainer's hand beeped. Dante nodded, returning his pokedex to his pocket. “Right. With you guys, I think that means you’ll be evolving again pretty soon.” Felix only replied by stating his name. “Well, let’s return to Pewter and see what they’ll want with Sparky.” Dante said as he picked up Luna and returned Felix to his pokeball.

Later that night at the Pewter City Pokemon Center, Dante was sitting on his bed with Luna curled up next to him. He held up two pokeballs, gazing upon the one that held his pikachu. “I’m surprised that store clerk just wanted me to chip in to replacing her window. I would'a swore she’d want you to get some punishment or something.” Dante chuckled to himself and opened the two pokeballs, releasing Sprout and Sparky. “Alright guys. We’ll be challenging the Pewter Gym tomorrow, so it’ll be best if we all get a good night’s sleep.” Dante smiled as he laid himself down on the bed, quickly going to sleep. Sprout flopped down where he was standing and passed out instantly. Sparky climbed up into the windowsill and looked outside. Luna, who had been pretending to be asleep, got up from the bed and hopped over to Sparky. “Ee Eevee.(Hey Sparky.)” The pikachu looked down at the eevee with a scowl. “Pi pikachu pi. (Don’t call me that.)” Luna looked up at him as he turned his head away, taking notice of the slight marks Luna could see through his fur. “Eevee ee?(What’re those?)” Static started appearing around Sparky’s cheeks, making Luna back down a little. “Eevee, eevee...(Okay, sorry…)” Luna looked down a little. “Ee... Eevee ee-vee?(So… Why did you steal?)” Sparky shrugged. “Pika pi-chu.(I was hungry.)”

Luna rolled her eye and looked out the window. “Ee… Eevee ee eevee?(So… How did you get those marks?)” Sparky sighed and looked down. “Pika… Pika pi chu pika pi pi pikachu-pi…(They’re scars… bad men with R’s on their chests did things to me…)” Luna looked towards him then walked over to him, cuddling into him. Sparky looked at her. “…Pika chu chu pi?(...What’re you doing?)” Luna looked up at him. “Eevee ee-ee. Ee eevee eevee ee eevee.(Making you feel better. Us weirdos gotta stick together.)” Sparky rolled his eyes. “Pika chu…Pika chu chu.(You’re not weird… Looking at least.)” Luna gazed at him with a confused look. “Eevee eevee… Eevee vee?(But I’m shiny… Can’t you see?)” Sparky responded by shrugging again. “Pikachu pi-pi chu pi.(You look like a normal eevee to me.)” Luna huffed and curled up, falling asleep.

Sparky looked down at the curled up pile of fluff next to him. She looked the same shade of gray that eevees, and everything else for that matter, looked to him now. Sparky hopped off the windowsill and walked towards the belt of pokeballs Dante had on the bedside table. He sniffed out the one that smelled like him and pressed it, returning him to the ball, where he slept that night.


	5. An Onix-pected Battle

The next day Dante left the pokemon center stretching. Today was going to be the day he challenged the Pewter City Gym and got his first badge, and he was excited to do it. Luna happily bounced beside him as they walked along the cobblestone paths to the gym, a building seemingly carved from the inside of a giant block of stone.

Dante walked into the gym where he was greeted to a lobby where a bespectacled man stood behind a desk. “Hey! You here to challenge the gym? Come on over man!” Dante walked over to the man who slid a paper across the desk. “Just need you to fill in some info for us that’ll get passed around to the other gym leaders. Shouldn’t take you too long.” Dante shrugged and grabbed a pen, filling in the paper. Luna walked around the lobby, looking at everything. Once Dante finished the man took the paper. “Alright! Just go through them doors and your gym challenge will start.” Dante smiled and whistled for Luna, who bounced back towards him, then the two walked through the double doors into the main gym room. 

Once inside Dante saw the large stairway that lead up to where Dante assumed the gym leader was. Standing in the middle of the stairs was a trainer that Dante walked up to. “Hi, I assume you’re here to stop me?” The trainer nodded and pulled out a pokeball, a large smirk on his face. “Good guess. Go, geodude!” The trainer tossed out a pokeball that opened to release the rock pokemon. Dante grabbed at a pokeball on his waist and threw it. “Felix, I choose you!” Dante called out as his metapod landed on the stairs unmoving. The trainer laughed. “Ha! You think that green bean will defeat me? Geodude, tackle!” The geodude roared as it rushed at Felix. “Felix, Harden!” Dante commanded. The metapod glowed white for a moment before taking a metallic sheen. The Geodude ran into Felix and stopped there, sliding against its front. “Well, Let’s blow through its defenses with Mega Punch!” The geodude’s fist glowed white as it punched Felix. “Quick Felix, String Shot!” Dante called out. Metapod jumped out of the way of geodude’s attack, surprising both the gym trainer and Dante, and fired a deluge of silk from his tip. The geodude struggled under all the string it was buried in, which Dante took advantage of. “Now Felix, tackle!” The metapod lunged towards the geodude and slammed into it, knocking the geodude free from the string and knocking it out. 

The gym trainer returned the geodude and pulled out another pokeball. “Alright, let’s try this. Go, sandshrew!” the gym trainer cried as the mouse pokemon was unleashed. “Sandshrew, Fury Swipes!” The gym trainer called out. The sandshrew’s claws glowed white as it jumped at Felix, scratching at his shell multiple times. On the final strike, it seemed to dig a little deeper, making the metapod tremble. Dante gasped as he saw Felix start to crack. The gym trainer chuckled. “Well, looks like my sandshrew hit harder than I thought.” Before Dante could respond, white light started to emerge from Felix’s cracks as his shell burst open. An orb of white light floated out from it before opening up to reveal a butterfree. 

Felix fluttered around for a moment before it noticed Sandshrew. Felix squeaked at the sandshrew as it brandished its claws. “Okay, let’s think… that’s a butterfree, I think. What do butterfree know? Um… let’s try Confusion, Felix.” Dante requested. The butterfree’s antennae glowed blue as it shot out rings of energy toward the sandshrew, knocking it back in one hit. Dante smiled as he returned Felix and finished his ascent up the stairs, where he was met with a large arena.

The arena was rectangular, and covered in rocks of various sized. On the other side of the arena was a tall man with tanned skin and spiky black hair. “Welcome. I am Brock, Pewter City Gym Leader. And I assume you’re here to challenge me for my badge?” Dante nodded and walked forward. “My name is Dante Cook, and your badge is going to be my first.” Brock smirked and reached for one of the pokeballs on his belt. “We’ll see about that. Since I'm going to be your first gym battle, I should tell you a little bit of info. Normally, gyms only allow trainers to use an equal number of pokemon that they use. But since I’m your first, I’ll let you use as many as you want.” Dante nodded and grabbed at his own pokeball. “That seems fair.” Brock tossed a pokeball into the air, releasing a geodude. “Let the gym battle begin!” 

Dante responded by sending out Felix. “Alright Felix, hit that geodude with Confusion!” The butterfree complied, sending waves of energy at the rock pokemon. “Geodude, Defense Curl!” Brock commanded. His geodude wrapped its arms around itself and glowed white, absorbing the blow from the confusion. “Now use Rollout Geodude!” The geodude started spinning in place, before it flew at Felix, hitting it straight on. “Oh, no… Stun Spore, Felix!” As Felix and Geodude landed, a plume of yellow powder erupted onto the field, Geodude crawled off, coughing and covered in the pollen, while Felix laid on the ground, defeated. 

Dante returned Felix and looked down at Luna. “You wanna go?” Luna looked up at him hesitantly, then out at the geodude and Brock. Luna yipped and ran out onto the field. “Dig, Luna!” Dante commanded. The eevee dug into the gym floor, disappearing from view. “Alright Geodude, be prepared for its attack.” The Geodude attempted to go into a defensive position, but the stun spore was stiffening its movements. “Now, Luna!” Dante commanded. Luna erupted from the floor and tackled the geodude from behind, sending it to the floor, defeated. Brock returned it and pulled out a different pokeball. “Impressive, but I would expect no less from someone with a shiny eevee.” Brock grinned as he sent out his next pokemon. “Onix, I choose you!” Brock cried out as the titanic rock snake pokemon was released. 

The onix gave off a mighty roar as it slammed its tail into the ground, making Luna squeak and run back to Dante. “Yeah, should'a saw that coming.” Dante sighed as he pulled out another pokeball. “Sprout, I choose you!” Dante stated as he released his pokemon. The bulbasaur gave a soft roar as he looked upon his opponent in terror. Brock smirked. “Onix, Bind that bulbasaur.” With shocking speed, the onix wrapped its tail around Sprout squeezing the seed pokemon. “Oh, boy… Sprout, Leech Seed!” Dante commanded. From within the coils of onix a brown seed shot out and entered a crack in its body, quickly growing into vines that wrapped around the entirety of Onix. The pokemon roared as it released Sprout, who landed with a thud on the ground. “Alright Onix, bury that bulbasaur with Rock Tomb!” Brock commanded. The onix slammed its tail into one of the many large rocks that surrounded the arena, destroying it and causing the debris to fall towards Sprout like a waterfall. 

The Bulbasaur ran as quickly as he could from the rocks, nearly getting hit a couple times. Once the attack was finished Sprout managed to get behind the gigantic pokemon. “Sprout, Vine Whip at Onix!” Dante cried out. Onix spun around just in time to get smacked in the face by one of Sprout’s vines. It growled angrily as Sprout did it again and again. “Rock Throw, Onix.” Brock commanded. Onix opened its mouth, multiple sharp rocks firing from its depths at Sprout, who used this opportunity to wrap his vines around the bottom of Onix’s mouth. “Tackle, now!” Dante called out. Sprout gave a roar as he reeled in his vines, sending himself towards the onix, and bashing himself to the roof of the Onix’s mouth. Onix reeled back and fell, defeated. Sprout crawled out from its mouth and dusted himself off with one of his vines. 

Brock smiled and returned his onix, walking across the field. “Well done Dante. I see great things coming from you in the future. Here,” Brock reached out his hand, which held a small silver badge. “This is the Boulder Badge. It will be your first step on your journey. And as for your next step, I would recommend going on Route 3 through Mount Moon to Cerulean City.” Dante smiled as he accepted the badge and advice. “Thank you very much. Your pokemon battled well.” Brock nodded before turning back. “And yours too.” As Dante Left the gym, struggling to pin the badge to the inside of his jacket, he planned out how he was going to spend the rest of the day, with going to a pokemon center being at the top of the list.


	6. Rocketing to the Moon

“Sleep Powder, Felix!” Dante commanded. The butterfree flapped his wings, sending sparkling blue powder down at the female nidoran he was facing. The nidoran seemed affected by the powder with the way it was swaying, but that didn’t stop her from jumping up at Felix and scratching him. Felix flew back as the sleep powder took full effect and the nidoran slumped down, asleep. Dante tossed a pokeball at the poison pin pokemon, catching it. The trainer smiled as he picked up the capsule. “And welcome to the team, Ayame.”

Dante thanked his lucky stars that there was a pokemon center right before the entrance to Mount Moon, as the various pokemon and trainers took a lot out of Dante and his pokemon. As Dante waited for his pokemon to be healed, a man in a trench coat walked up to him. “Psst, kid. You look like a smart trainer.” Dante turned to the man and thought for a moment. “I suppose I am… What can I do for you?” The man pulled an ultraball from a pocket in his coat. “In this pokeball, is a rare and powerful pokemon. I need a smart trainer to take it from me since I sure can’t control it.” Dante thought for a moment, then reached for the ball, but the man pulled it from his reach. “Five hundred.” Snapped the mysterious man. Dante looked at the man confused. “Five hundred poke for it. I ain’t just gonna give this thing away.” Dante rolled his eyes and pulled out the money, handing it to the man, who in return gave him the pokeball and ran out the center in a hurry. After Dante received his newly healed pokemon he walked out of the center, still holding the ultraball. “Well, let’s see what “rare pokemon” is in this thing.” said Dante as he tossed the pokeball, which opened to reveal… a magikarp. The fish pokemon flopped helplessly on the ground for a moment before it stopped to look up at Dante, who only smirked. “Ah, I see. Such a mighty pokemon.” Dante remarked, highly amused. The trainer knelt down and pulled out his pokedex, scanning the creature. “Magikarp, the Fish Pokemon. It is virtually worthless in terms of both power and speed. It is the most weak and pathetic Pokemon in the world.” The pokedex beeped out. Dante could almost hear the animosity in that entry as he looked down towards his magikarp. He could’ve sworn he saw a tear forming in its wide, unblinking eye, but it might have just been condensation. The trainer happily patted the pokemon on its side. “I think I’ll call you Titan.”

Dante stepped into Mount Moon, a surprisingly well lit cave system. As Dante walked through, he saw a group of zubat fluttering around. Dante smirked. “Looks like some easy experience for Sparky. Go!” Dante cried out as he tossed Sparky’s pokeball, releasing the electric mouse pokemon. The pikachu looked around his surroundings, a surprised look on his face. He turned back towards his trainer, who was pointing towards the zubat. “C’mon Sparky, give them the ol’ Thundershock!” Dante commanded. Sparky looked up at the zubat, then his trainer, and sighed. Static formed around his cheeks, and nothing else. Sparky panted a little at the effort exuded just to do that. “Okay… maybe not thundershock… thunder wave?” Sparky shook his head. “...thunderbolt?” Another shake. “...Volt Tackle?” The pikachu gave him an annoyed look. “Okay. wait. You don’t know any electric attacks?” Sparky nodded sadly. Dante thought for a moment. “Well, I guess that explains why you didn’t use any during out battle. Oh, well. Just quick attack then if that’s okay.” Sparky looked at Dante in surprise, then nodded and jumped up at the zubat, tackling one.

The trek through Mount Moon was a surprisingly easy one. As Dante neared the end of it, he had a quick battle with a hiker. “Now, Ayame, finish off that geodude with Double Kick!” The nidoran responded by kicking the geodude once each with her hind legs, sending the geodude into a wall. As Dante and the hiker he battled said their farewells, a cry echoed through the tunnel. “What was that?” Dante asked aloud as he returned his nidoran and ran towards the source of the cry. There, Dante found three men in dark uniforms, surrounding a scientist wrapped in ropes. One of the men turned, flashing the large red ‘R’ on his chest. Luna saw this and gasped, then growled. “C’mon four-eyes. Just give us the fossils you’ve been diggin’ here, and we’ll leave you alone.” The scientist shook his head. “I’ll never cooperate with thugs like you!” another man blew a raspberry and punched the scientist in the face, breaking his glasses. “Eh, wrong answer!” Dante stepped forward. “Hey! What do you guys think you’re doing?!” All of the men stopped what they were doing and turned to Dante. “Well… looks like we got’s ourselves someone wanting to mess with Team Rocket! Can’t have that now, can we boys?” One of the men asked. The other two gave shouts in the affirmative. 

The first man pulled out a pokeball. “Don’t worry boys; I got this. Rhyhorn, Take Down!” The pokeball opened and a large Rhyhorn ran out, charging towards Dante, who responded by pulling out his own pokeball and tossing it. ”Sprout, Vine Whip to stop that rhyhorn!” Sprout complied as he emerged onto the cave floor and wrapped his vines around the rhyhorn’s legs. The rhyhorn however was moving at such a speed that it simply ripped through Sprout’s vines and tossed him away in one quick motion. Dante jumped out of the way as the rhyhorn crashed through a cave wall, pulling out his pokedex. “Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokemon. Strong, but not too bright, this Pokemon can shatter even a skyscraper with its charging tackles.” The pokedex read out. Dante gulped worriedly as Luna growled at the rhyhorn and lunged at it. 

One of the other team rocket members poked the first one. “Hey man. Are eevees usually… silver?” the first looked closer, then laughed with glee. “Hot-diggity-dog! That’s a shiny eevee! That thing is rarer than a legendary! And it’s gonna be all ours. Rhyhorn! Horn Attack that eevee!” The rhyhorn spun around to face Luna, then charged at her with its head down. Suddenly vines shot from nowhere, wrapping around the rhyhorn’s neck and pulling it in another direction, crashing it into a wall. Dante pulled out two more pokeballs. “Sparky, Ayame. Go save that man!” The pikachu and nidoran nodded before rushing at the men. Sparky’s cheeks lit up with electricity as it zoomed through the men with quick attack, paralyzing them all. Ayame ran up to the man and scratched at the rope, freeing him.

The rhyhorn and Sprout stared at each other. The Rhyhorn stomped at the ground angrily as the scientist ran over to Dante. “T-t-thank you so much for saving me…” The first rocket grunt shakily stood up on his elbows, gritting his teeth. “I want this done… Rhyhorn, Fissure.” The other grunts, as well as Dante and the Scientist’s eyes widened. The rhyhorn stood on its hind legs for a moment before slamming them down with an unimaginable force. The entire cavern started to shake dangerously. “You idiot! You’re gonna cause a cave-in!” The second grunt shouted at the first, but he didn’t seem to be listening. Dante felt something wrap around his middle as he was pulled off in a direction, watching as more and more rocks started to crash down, then his vision went black. 

Dante had not passed out. He could hear the muffled yet still deafening roar as the cave crashed down around them. Dante felt whatever he was leaning against. It had a slight velvety feel to it. Suddenly the area was filled with light as the scientist turned on a flashlight he had. They could now see that they were in a bubble of sorts. Sparky, Ayame and Luna were surrounding a large red bud in the center of the floor, taking turns poking at it. Dante spun around and examined the walls. They were coiled vines. After a few minutes the rumbling seemed to stop, and the vines surrounding them collapsed. Rubble was everywhere, and at least half of the mountain and cave system was destroyed, but those men from team rocket weren’t anywhere. “Wait..” Dante paused for a moment and counted his pokemon. “Where’s Sprout?” He turned to the scientist. “Where’s my bulbasaur?” Before the scientist could answer, a muffled moan emanated from the red bud, now surrounded by rocks. Dante, the scientist and Sparky started moving away the rocks to reveal Sprout, now an ivysaur, covered in scratches. “Sprout!” Dante cried out, pulling the seed pokemon into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay, but… never, ever do that again, you stupid cabbage…” The ivysaur accepted his fate and stayed there, happy that his trainer was okay. 

The scientist cleared his throat. “Um… once again, I would like to thank you for saving me from those men. And as thanks…” The scientist dug into his pocket and pulled out a translucent orange stone. “This is an amber. I have some belief that there is ancient pokemon DNA within it. I have some associates on Cinnabar Island that might be able to confirm that.” Dante accepted the amber and carefully set down his ivysaur, watching the scientist carefully walk through the rubble. Dante looked on in the horizon, where he could see the tops of the Cerulean City buildings.


	7. Burnt to Cind-ers

Once Dante and Luna got away from Mount Moon they continued on to Route 4. Dante was looking around and admiring the scenery, while Luna was on the ground sniffing around for something it seemed. After a moment, Dante noticed the eevee’s odd behavior. “What’s up Luna? You smell something?” After a moment Luna piped up and ran off in a hurry. “Hey, wait!” Dante ran after Luna as she jumped into a bush, which started to shake. Dante stopped in his tracks when not one, but two shiny eevee walked out. “Oh, there you are!” Dante turned his head towards the voice that just rang out.

It was a girl with long red hair that looked just a couple years older than Dante. The girl ran towards Dante and scooped up the eevee that Dante noticed was slightly smaller than Luna, as well as the fact that this other eevee had curlier tufts of fur on its head. “Why’d you have to go and run off like that Luke?” The eevee responded by yipping and licking her nose. The girl turned towards Dante as Luna ran behind him. “Oh, I’m sorry. My name’s Cindy. I should thank you for finding Luke here. We heard that loud rumbling from Mount Moon and Luke got scared and ran off. Oh! I’m sorry, your name is?” Dante’s brain took a moment to catch up. “Oh, right. Sorry, my name’s Dante, and that’s Luna." The trainer answered, side stepping so that the girl could see Luna from behind him. "...And I couldn’t help but notice…” Dante's eyes trailed down to where Cindy was cradling Luke in her arms. The redhead got the hint. “...The shiny eevee? Yeah, he was an anniversary gift from my girlfriend.” Cindy smiled, cuddling Luke up to her cheek. 

Suddenly Cindy jumped and ran up to Dante. “Hey, so I take it you’re a trainer? Why don’t we have a battle before we get to Cerulean?” Cindy gently dropped Luke to the ground and pulled out a pokeball. Dante smiled and grabbed one of his own. “Sounds good to me, how many?” Dante asked. Cindy stopped and pondered for a moment. “Oh, I dunno. I only have four right now, so that’ll work.” Dante nodded as the two trainers released their first pokemon.

“Icarus, I choose you!” Cindy shouted as a pidgey flew out from her pokeball. “Let’s go Ayame, Poison Sting!” Dante called. The nidoran opened her mouth, shooting multiple purple needles out towards the pidgey. “Icarus, Gust those needles away!” Cindy commanded. The pidgey flapped its wings, creating a strong breeze that blew away the attack. “Now, Quick Attack!” The pidgey nodded and dive bombed Ayame, tackling her at a high speed. Afterwards though, Icarus landed hard, taking note of the scratches running along his wings. Dante smirked. “Looks like you got affected by Ayame’s Poison Point Ability.” Cindy growled a little. “C’mon Icarus, Gust again!” Cindy shouted. The pidgey raised its wings, and then fell over, fainted. “Looks like that’s one win for me.” Dante stated.

Cindy grabbed at another pokeball at her waist. “Alright, let’s see what our new guy can do. Go, Oberon!” Cindy tossed out a pokeball, releasing a clefairy. Dante returned Ayame and tossed another pokeball. “Let’s go, Sparky!” Dante called out, releasing the pikachu. “Sparky, Slam!” Dante commanded. The pikachu nodded and ran to the clefairy, spinning around and smacking Oberon with his tail. The clefairy bounced back up from the ground and spun around. “Oberon, Sing!” Cindy commanded. Oberon opened his mouth and started to sing, sending large bouncing musical notes towards Sparky. “Use Agility to dodge them, then Quick Attack!” Dante called out. Sparky flashed white for a moment and ran around to Oberon’s behind, then ran right into his back. Cindy smirked. “Alright Oberon, let’s have some fun. Metronome.” The clefairy smiled and held up his hands, which started to glow white. The clefairy started wagging its fingers before pointing them right to the sky and giving a cry of glee. The next thing either of the trainers saw was a large mushroom cloud blast out from the clefairy, enveloping everything. Once the dust settled both Sparky and Oberon were laying on the ground, knocked out. Cindy laughed. “Well, looks like I got Self Destruct. Fun. Oh well, return Oberon.” Dante was solemn, saying nothing as he returning his pikachu.

Two more pokeballs entered the field, opening to reveal a wartortle and Sprout. Dante smiled. “Ah, so that’s your starter?” Cindy nodded. “Well Sprout, let’s go for a Vine Whip!” The ivysaur stood still, the only movement from him came from trembling in his legs. “...Sprout?” Dante asked, concern in his voice. Cindy took opportunity of the confusion. “Sherlock, knock him back with a Water Gun!” The wartortle growled and opened its mouth, firing a blast of water at Sprout, who took the attack surprisingly well. “Okay… no vine whip… Sprout, tackle!” Dante called out. Sprout shook his head for a moment, then ran towards the wartortle. “Quick Sherlock, Mega Punch at the ground!” Cindy shouted out. An orb of white energy enveloped Sherlock’s fist as he slammed it down right before Sprout, knocking him back with an explosion. “Sprout, Leech Seed!” Dante commanded. Sprout righted himself and launched a seed from his mouth, which exploded into vines that wrapped around Sherlock. “Run up and bite it, Sherlock!” Cindy instructed. Sherlock launched itself towards Sprout and bit down on his bulb. Dante smirked. “Poison Powder Sprout!” A plume of purple powder erupted from Sprout’s bulb, right into Sherlock’s mouth. The wartortle reeled back and started coughing. “Tackle, Sprout!” Dante commanded. At that same moment Cindy cried out “Mega Punch again!” Sherlock’s fist was enveloped in another white orb that he slammed right into Sprout’s forehead, knocking him out. Cindy smirked. “And that’s a win for me.”

Both trainers returned their starters and looked upon their final pokemon. Cindy smiled. “Well, this will be interesting.” Dante nodded in agreement. “Luke, let’s go.” Cindy’s eevee squeaked and pranced onto the field. Luna did the same. “Luke, use Attract!” The eevee squeaked and winked at Luna, a pink heart fluttering from his eye and exploding into glitter once it made contact with Luna. Luna’s eyes got a glazed look as she trotted over to him in a wobbly fashion. “Oh boy…” Dante breathed to himself “Luna, Bite.” his eevee went up to Luke and started nibbling at his ear. Dante rolled his eyes while Cindy giggled. “Okay Luke, use Take Down.” Luke got a mischievous glint in his eyes as he tackled Luna down. The female eevee squeaked as the effects of Attract wore off. “Luna, Tackle him back!” Dante commanded. Luna slid out from under Luke and rammed into him. Luke rolled over and squeaked pitifully. He rolled his head to the side towards Luna and winked, right before pretending to pass out. 

Cindy and Dante stood in silence for a moment before Cindy burst out laughing. She walked over to Luke and picked him up. “Well, that was fun. You’re a pretty good trainer. C’mon, Cerulean City is just a bit farther.” And with that she walked on. Luna walked up to her trainer and looked up at him in confusion.


	8. A Shocking Development

Once Dante and Luna got to Cerulean City, they found the pokemon center where sure enough, Cindy was there getting her pokemon healed. She had received her pokemon and turned around, brightening once she saw Dante. “Oh, hey!” She called out as she ran over to Dante. “I didn’t think you’d catch up that quickly to me.” Dante shrugged. “I walk fast.”

The trainer went up to the nurse and handed over his pokemon for healing. “So, what are you gonna be doing in Cerulean?” Cindy asked. Dante answered without turning around. “Probably challenge the gym. Why? You know some place to go sightsee?” Cindy looked off. “Not exactly, but I do know the gym leader, and I know she uses water types.” At this Dante froze in place. “And uh… I was wondering, why didn’t your ivysaur and pikachu use any real grass or electric attacks?” Dante received his pokemon from the nurse, Luna immediately breaking free from her pokeball. 

The two trainers walked out of the gym and Dante sighed. “Okay, for my pikachu, I don’t know why he can’t use electric attacks. As for Sprout… there was this trainer in Mount Moon that we fought… and some events happened. I think Sprout’s just a bit shaken up from it.” Cindy nodded, easily putting two and two together. The female trainer smiled sympathetically and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t sweat it. But I think I know of someone who lives nearby that might be able to help you. He’s kind of an expert on pokemon and stuff.” Dante turned to her and smiled a little. “Well what are we waiting for?”

North of Cerulean City, on Route 25, the two trainers came upon a cottage that sat by a river. A sign that read “Bill’s Cottage” was driven into the earth. “Cindy, are you sure about this? I’m getting some bad vibes from this.” Dante asked, obviously nervous. Cindy responded by slapping him on the back. “Oh, don’t be such a baby. Come on.” Cindy then walked up to the cottage door and knocked. There was a fluttering of papers followed by a voice. “Just a second!” After a second a brown haired man opened the door. “Yes? How can Ah help y’all?” Cindy then pushed Dante forward. “Yes, my friend here has some issues with his pokemon, and since you’re such a famous expert Mister Bill, I figured you could help.” Bill pursed his lips for a moment. “Well, normally Ah would say if ya got real issues ya should probably ask a doctor or somethin’, but I guess I could help.” Bill opened his door further and stepped back, welcoming the two in.

Despite the small size of the house it seemed filled to the brim with papers. Those that weren’t in messy stacks to the ceiling were scattered around the floor. “Don’t worry ‘bout them notes. Ah got’s ‘em backed up on my ‘puter anyways.” Bill walked in and sat down in a computer chair, spinning it to face the trainers. “So what seems to be yer issue?” Dante hesitantly pulled out two pokeballs and tossed them, releasing Sprout and Sparky. “My ivysaur can’t use his vine whip attack anymore, and my pikachu hasn’t been able to use any electric attacks.” Bill scooted his chair forward and started examining Sprout by lifting up his leaves and poking at his bulb. “Well, with your ivysaur Ah can’t find any physical issues, so it’s most likely a psychological issue. That Ah can’t help with. As fer yer pikachu…” Bill then proceeded to pick up Sparky and place him on his lap. 

Sparky growled at him, with his cheeks producing static. Bill, simply poked him in the cheeks, nodding to himself. “Mm-hmm… my fingers don’t even feel tingly. Ah hate to say it, but Ah think yer pikachu’s got stunted cheek pouches.” Dante tilted his head in slight confusion. “Cheek pouches?” Bill rolled his eyes. “Pikachu and other related species of pokemon got special organs in their cheeks that store and produce electricity. Yer pikachu can barely produce enough electricity to cover his cheeks." Bill furthered proved his point by further prodding his fingers into Sparky's cheeks. It was at this point that Dante noticed how sunken Sparky's cheeks appeared to be as oppose to other pikachu that he has encountered. "It’s not that unheard of honestly, just means you’ll have to train him…” Bill trailed off as his eyes looked down at Sparky, who he was petting. Bill started to part Sparky’s fur in certain spots and rubbed the areas, causing the pikachu to begin wriggling in his lap. “Kid, have ya ever actually gotten a good look at yer pikachu?” Dante shook his head. “Sparky hasn’t exactly been the most affectionate.” Bill bowed his head and sighed. “Well he’s covered in what look and feel like surgical scars. I can see 'em through his fur and I can feel 'em even better. That means that someone’s probably been doin’ some very bad things to ‘im before ya found 'im.” Dante and Cindy both gasped at the revelation. “That’s horrible! Who would do something like that to a poor pikachu?” Cindy asked aloud. Bill simply shrugged. “There’s a lot of bad people in this world. Wish I knew the answer too.” Bill stopped, a pondering look on his face.

He set Sparky down, who quickly scampered back over to Dante. Luna trotted over and rubbed against him, Sparky surprisingly not objecting. Bill got up from his chair and looked out the window. It was overcast, with rain expected by mid afternoon. “So… It might be risky, but Ah think Ah may have something fer yer pikachu.” Dante looked down at Sparky, who was alternating looks between Bill and his trainer. “I think Sparky is interested.” Bill spun around, grinning. “Great!” The man then walked over to a couple of his note stacks and pushed them, surprisingly not knocking them over, to reveal a large machine. “Alright, we’ll start with this. This thing is… let’s call it a unitasker. First, We’ll need to get a good look at yer pikachu. Think of it as a checkup.” Sparky started slowly hiding behind Dante, who picked up the pikachu. Dante was very skeptical about this machine, but nonetheless relented. “Okay…” 

Dante walked over as Bill opened the door to the machine. The trainer set down Sparky into the machine as Bill closed the door. “Now we just gotta hit a few buttons, and… bingo!” A screen opened up on the door, which showed Sparky scratching at a wall. Bill spun a dial and the screen went to static for a moment before returning, now showing an X-ray of Sparky. All three persons gasped at what they saw. On sparky’s limbs and spine, metal rods appeared to be attached to the bones, with a metal plate attached to the back of Sparky’s skull. Additionally, the rods appeared to be forcing Sparky’s spine vertically straight, as well as keeping his legs extended. “Oh, my… This is… quite the sight…” Bill said quietly. Bill spun his head. "Well... I wanted to look from the bottom up, ta see what we're workin' with. But I think just this is more than enough." The two trainers nodded as Bill turned off the machine and let Sparky out. “I guess that explains why Sparky runs like a person…” Dante mumbled as he looked out the window to see that it was starting to rain. “Do… Are those things hurting him?” Cindy asked, trying to find the right words. Bill stood up and looked down at Sparky, who was staring up at his trainer from the floor. “I’m sure it’ll cause some issues later in life, but for now, I think if he's made it this far he’s capable of living with it.” Bill then walked over to a coat rack, putting on a poncho. “Well, c’mon. Let’s get wet.”

Bill and the two trainers left the cottage, with Bill walking around to the back. Dante and Cindy followed, with Luna dragging Luke away from a newly-formed puddle. Behind Bill’s cottage was a comically large training wheel attached to a tall metal rod. “Um… Bill… is this… safe?” Dante asked. Bill spun around. “Well ah’m sorry. Who’s the expert here?” Dante rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, Sparky’s gonna be running on that?” Bill nodded his head. "It'll be good training for him. It'll help him get comfortable at runnin' and with the stormin' he might attract some lightnin' to give him a li'l boost." Dante picked up Sparky and placed him within the wheel. Sparky looked up at his trainer in slight confusion, with Dante taking a step back. 

Bill gave Sparky a thumbs up, making Dante sigh and roll his eyes again. “He wants you to run on the wheel, Sparky.” Dante said flatly. Sparky nodded and began running on the wheel, awkwardly on his hind legs at first, but he eventually got on all four of his legs, picking up speed. To the surprise of Dante and Cindy, small sparks actually started to appear around the wheel and rod. “Hey, I think it’s actually working…” Dante said. Bill simply nodded. Sparky turned his head back to his trainer for a moment, getting bored of running, and gasped. Behind his trainer a fearow and two spearow were flying straight towards them. “Sparky, is something wrong?” Dante asked. The pikachu responded only by growling and leaping off the wheel, jumping up on his trainer only to use him as a launchpad to reach the bird pokemon. “Pika...CHUUU!” Sparky cried out as three jagged bolts of lightning shot from the mouse pokemon. The two spearow were hit and dropped to the ground, while the fearow swooped out of the way, expertly flying between Dante and Cindy, snatching Luna and Luke in its beak. “What the? Where’d that fearow come from?” Bill asked, a shocked look on his face. Dante and Cindy grabbed at pokeballs at their waist. “Who cares? It grabbed our eevees!” Dante answered back. The two trainers tossed up their pokeballs, releasing Felix and Icarus. “Both of you, follow that fearow and try to get the eevees!” Cindy commanded. The two flying pokemon nodded and flew up towards it. “String Shot, Felix!” Dante commanded. The butterfree squeaked and shot multiple strings of silk from its mouth towards the beak pokemon. Some of these strings caught at the fearow’s leg, which allowed Felix to pull it down. The fearow spun around, and closed its wings, its feathers now a silvery color. “Uh oh…” Bill muttered under his breath. Cindy looked towards him. “Uh oh? What’s uh oh?” The redhead asked worriedly. Bill gulped. “It looks like that fearow’s going to use its signature attack, Mirror Move.” Sure enough, the fearow opened its wings, and silk exploded out from its wings, completely trapping Felix and Icarus in cocoons that fell to the ground.

Sparky looked up, growling at the fearow, more static than usual emanating from his cheeks. Sparky used Agility and ran up a tree, getting to the top in record time. The fearow saw Sparky and flicked its head up, releasing the two eevees. Sparky gasped, then growled harder, his brow furling. Blue electricity started to crackle around Sparky and the tree he was on. A bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds at Sparky, making the tree he was on explode. Sparky used the momentum to leap at the fearow, giving a mighty roar as an enormous bolt of lighting shot out from Sparky, completely electrocuting the fearow, defeating it. The fearow squawked pitifully as it laid on the ground, defeated. It let out harsh croaks as the two eevees landed on its body, a soft cushion for them. Sparky sighed and flopped forward, exhausted from his battle. After this, the rain let up. The two trainers returned all their pokemon, with Dante going to Bill. “Thank you so much Bill. I didn’t know Sparky had that in him.” Bill chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah… that sure was somethin’...” Bill’s eyes craned over to the charred stump that was once a tree in his backyard, that was currently being doused by Cindy’s wartortle. Bill quickly dug into his pocket. “Oh, yeah! Since ah’m in such a gen’rous mood, Ah wanna give y’all these.” Bill pulled out his hand which contained two tickets. “Sometime next week, the party boat S.S. Anne is gonna be docked at Vermilion. One’a my friends gave me these so ah could go, but uh… Ah ain’t much for social interactin’...” Bill looked away sheepishly. Dante smiled and accepted one of the tickets, with Cindy coming up to snatch the other. “Thank you. I’m sure these will be well used.” With that, the two trainers made their departure from Bill’s cottage back to Cerulean.


	9. Perks of Being a Waterflower

The next day, Dante exited the pokemon center. Today he was going to challenge the Cerulean City Gym Leader. Cindy had said that she would see him at the gym, since she had left him yesterday to train back on Route 25, then spend the rest of the day with her girlfriend who lived in Cerulean. Dante walked to the gym, a tall circular building, and entered, his eevee following him.

The first thing Dante saw was a large cylindrical aquarium in the middle of the room. Dante walked around the room. "Hmm, I guess that guy is only at the first gym..." Dante said to himself, shrugging in acceptance. Dante returned his attention to the aquarium and stared at it in awe, looking at the myriad of water pokemon that swam around in the water. Looking up, Dante could see a glass barrier separating the aquarium and another large body of water above, with which Dante could faintly see three figures in it near the edge of the pool. Dante looked around, seeing a stairway that went up to where Dante assumed would be the gym arena. Dante walked up it, hearing faint voices and laughter as he got closer to the second floor. Once Dante got up to the second floor, his jaw dropped. Cindy and another girl were sitting at the edge of the pool, both in swimsuits and chatting. Luke was in the water, held up by a life jacket. 

Cindy turned her head towards the stairs, and her eyes lit up once she saw Dante. “Oh, Dante! Misty, that’s the trainer I was talking to you about, the one with the eevee.” Cindy exclaimed, shaking the shoulder of her companion. The other girl, who had orange hair pulled to the side in a ponytail, got up from the poolside and looked towards Dante. “Oh, hi! I’m Misty, Cerulean City Gym Leader. I take it you’re here for my badge?” Dante nodded "Yeah. Um... When Cindy told me her girlfriend lived in Cerulean, I didn't think..." Dante trailed off, but Misty figured out what he meant to say. "That she was the gym leader? Well, I am. Surprise!" Misty giggled. “And as for your challenge, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit. Cause someone already challenged me!” As she spoke, Misty slowly walked behind Cindy, and pushed her into the pool with her foot, making the redhead shriek as she fell in.

After some laughs and drying off, Misty and Cindy walked over to a pile of clothes and started putting them on over their bathing suits. Dante spun around and whistled a ditty, waiting for the girls to finish. "Awe, aren't you such a gentleman! I mean, it's not like we're undressing or anything." Cindy giggled, making Dante's cheeks redden. Once the couple were fully clothed, Cindy tapped Dante's shoulder. “The seats are that way.” Misty said as she pointed at a doorway "They're usually for the water ballet shows my sisters do, but you can chill up there while Cindy and I do our battle." Dante thanked her and walked through the doorway, coming to a theater of seats with a large window that showed the entire gym area. Dante sat in a front row seat, with Luna hopping up into the seat next to him. In the actual gym floor, Misty flipped a switch, which opened panels at the top of the pool that released platforms. Cindy and Luke stood at the other side of the pool as Misty walked forward. “So, I’ll be using two pokemon, but since you’re so cute I’ll let you use three.” Misty said with a wink. Cindy smirked. “Thanks babe, but I won’t need three.” Misty shrugged. “Suit yourself.” The two trainers pulled out pokeballs and tossed them out, releasing the pokemon. A staryu and Sherlock landed on the platforms. “Let the battle begin!” Misty commanded.

“Sherlock, Mega Punch!” Cindy commanded. Her wartortle’s fist glowed white as it launched itself towards the staryu. “Block it with Harden, Staryu!” Misty countered. The Staryu’s gem glowed white as Sherlock’s fist made contact. The staryu stayed unmoving. “And Swift!” Glowing stars shot from Staryu’s gem, knocking back Sherlock. “Water Gun, Staryu!” Misty commanded. Her staryu jumped up and started to spin, spewing water from all its tips. “Rapid Spin outta the way Sherlock!” Cindy cried. Sherlock’s head and limbs retracted into his shell. He started spinning around the streams, eventually flying right into the water. “Follow him in, Staryu.” Misty directed. Her staryu leaped into the water, spinning after Sherlock. “Bite it now, Sherlock!” Cindy cried out. From the water, Sherlock’s head popped out from his shell as he launched towards Staryu, chomping down on it and launching out of the water. When Sherlock landed back on his platform he dropped Staryu, whose gem dimmed to black, signalling its defeat. Misty sighed and returned her staryu, only to toss out another pokeball. “Starmie, let’s go!” Misty proclaimed. Her starmie landed on its platform, its gem glowing bright. “Now, use Water Pulse!” An orb of water materialized in front of its gem, which then launched off towards Sherlock. Sherlock took the attack head on, only to spin around, confused. 

Cindy breathed nervously. “Oh boy… Return, Sherlock.” Cindy commanded as her wartortle came back to its pokeball. Cindy reached for her belt, with which Dante noticed has five pokeballs now instead of four. “Tinkerbell, I choose you!” Cindy shouted, tossing a pokeball that released a bellsprout. “Stun Spore, Tinkerbell!” Cindy commanded. Her bellsprout reeled back its head before releasing a cloud of yellow powder that flew towards and clung to Starmie. Oh, no. Swift Starmie!” Misty shouted, but Starmie remained unmoving, paralyzed. Cindy grinned. “Now, use Growth, then Vine Whip!” Tinkerbell’s body glowed red for a moment before her vines thickened noticeably. She then leapt off of the platform, and stretched out her foot, kicking Starmie and knocking it back a ways. “Starmie, use Recover!” Misty called out, but Starmie did nothing but dim its cracked gem, defeated. Cindy grinned as both trainers returned their pokemon, Cindy and Misty meeting along the side of the pool so Misty could hand off her badge. Dante watched, not noticing he had been bouncing in his seat from the excitement of watching the battle. After a moment Cindy ran off to where Dante couldn’t see. The trainer pondered for a moment where she could've gone before he jumped from a sudden knocking at the door. Cindy poked her head in and said “You’re up dude.”


	10. A Double Gyara-dose of Trouble

Dante took a deep breath as he stepped into the gym arena again. Cindy bound off to the side of the pool and sat down in a lounge chair, Luke running up to sit in her lap. Dante turned his head towards her. “...Really?” Cindy nodded. “I dunno about you, but I always want front row seats to watching my girlfriend obliterate trainers.” Misty giggled at her remark while Dante rolled his eyes. Luna ran off and hopped onto the chair next to Luke and started to paw at him. “Traitor…” Dante muttered under his breath.

Misty cleared her throat. “So, for your Cerulean Gym battle you will be allowed to use two pokemon since that’s what I’ll be using. Sound fair?” Dante nodded. The gym leader tossed one of her pokeballs up into the air, which released her staryu. “Great! Let the gym battle begin!”

Dante reached for his belt and pulled out the ultraball. Cindy and Misty’s eyes widened at the sight of it. “Ooh, I was curious about what he had in that…” Cindy said quietly. Dante smirked. “Let’s go Titan!” Dante cried as the pokeball opened, releasing his magikarp which gracelessly fell into the water and started to splash happily. Misty snorted at the sight of it. “Wow, really wanna do this solo I see. Okay then Staryu, Water Gun!” The staryu grunted and aimed its top point towards the fish pokemon, shooting a stream of water towards it. “Titan, go upstream and Tackle!” Dante called out. Titan nodded and flew towards the water attack, effortlessly shooting up the stream and ramming itself right at Staryu, and then started flopping on the platform. Misty growled a little, not pleased with being bested by a magikarp. “Rapid Spin Staryu!” The gym leader commanded. The staryu then spun at a high speed, flying towards Titan. “Splash into the water, Titan!” Dante snapped. Titan slammed his tail onto the platform and bounced up, dodging the Staryu’s attack, then fell right back into the water. Misty’s eyes narrowed. “Alright, let’s see how your fishy deals with a naval battle. Go into the water and Swift, Staryu!” Staryu spun into the water, shooting glowing stars towards Titan. Some of the stars managed to slice at Titan, but the magikarp was surprisingly fast under the water. “Tackle again Titan, let’s finish this!” Dante cried out. In that moment, Titan gazed towards his opponent and swam towards it. As he did, his body started to glow. Dante and Misty’s eyes widened at the glow, especially as it grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger. 

A gyarados erupted from the water, knocking the staryu into the air. It let out a low growl as it opened its large mouth, releasing a purple vortex from it, catching the staryu in it. After the vortex disappeared, Staryu dropped onto the platform, defeated. The gyarados then spun to Dante, growling ferociously. “Um… Titan?” Dante squeaked out. Instantly the gyarados’ face softened and he bent down to lick his trainer. Dante hesitantly pat the large pokemon’s cheek. 

Misty’s jaw dropped at the gyarados while Cindy was laughing so hard she nearly fell off her chair. “I… I didn’t know magikarp evolve into gyarados…” the trainer said meekly. Cindy sat up from her seat. “Babe, don’t you have like, two gyarados?” Misty spun to her. “Yes, one I caught as is and the other was given to me, but that’s not the point. The point is that Staryu’s out and Starmie’s in.” The water “expert” stated as she swapped her pokemon. Dante did the same. “Sorry bud, but I don’t want this gym battle to be a cakewalk…” Dante said to the gyarados’ pokeball as he pulled out another. “Sprout, I choose you!” The ivysaur came out from his pokeball, landing shakily onto the floating platform. Sprout looked towards his opponent and gulped dryly. “Water Pulse, Starmie!” Starmie whirred and spun into the air, launching an orb of water at Sprout, who took the attack head on. Sprout shook his head a little to get the water off, not very affected by the attack. “Tackle, Sprout!” Dante called out. Sprout bounded off the platform and jumped at Starmie, knocking it back and cracking its gem. “Recover, Starmie!” Misty shouted. Starmie’s gem glowed bright for a moment, before dimming, now restored. “And Swift!” cried the gym leader. Starmie’s gem glowed white as small stars shot out, going right to Sprout. “C’mon Sprout, Vine Whip them out of the way!” Dante cried. Sprout trembled for a moment, but then stopped, shaking his head. The seed pokemon growled as the leaves surrounding his bud started to spin around it. Crescent shaped leaves shot out and flew right at Starmie, colliding with the swift stars. Dante’s eyes widened at the sight, the corners of his mouth rising into a grin. “Alright, Razor Leaf!” Dante happily cried. Misty smiled a little, having been told from Cindy about Sprout’s issue.

“Swift again, Starmie!” Misty called out. Starmie spun as it launched its attack. Sprout jumped out of the way, getting hit by a few stars. “Leech Seed, Sprout!” Dante commanded. The ivysaur fired a seed towards Starmie, who spun into the water to dodge the attack. Sprout grunted a little, running around the platform he was on to try and view Starmie. “Water Pulse Starmie!” The gym leader commanded. From under the water Starmie launched a near invisible orb, which collided with the platform, making it shake wildly. Sprout scrambled, futilely digging his claws into the platform before sliding into the water with a splash.

Under the water, Sprout was flailing about. “Starmie, Rapid Spin!” Misty called out. Starmie spun under the water like a saw blade, ramming itself into Sprout, launching him out of the water. From up in the air, Sprout could see the glow of Starmie’s gem under the water. The seed pokemon growled, launching a multitude of razor leafs towards the starmie, managing to hit it through the water. Sprout landed roughly on the platform and watched as Starmie floated to the surface, defeated.

Dante sighed in relief, holding out Sprout’s pokeball. “Sprout, return.” Cindy jumped up from her chair, cheering, while also knocking the two eevees off of her lap. Misty smiled and walked around the edge of the pool, with Dante meeting her in the middle. “Congratulations, Dante. You have beaten the Cerulean City Gym and have earned this, the cascade badge.” And with this, Misty held out her hand, with a light blue badge nestled within. Dante graciously took the badge and then shook the gym leader’s hand. 

Cindy then ran up, wrapping her arms around the two trainer’s shoulders. “That was awesome! Hey, Mists, how about we let Dante stay the night with us? If that’s alright with him.” At this, Dante’s cheeks flushed as he tried to wiggle out of the older girl’s grasp. “Um, I’ll be fine just staying at the pokemon center tonight.” The trainer mumbled, backing up a little. Luna bounded up to her trainer’s leg, looking at the two other girls. Misty smiled and patted her girlfriend’s cheek. “It’s alright Dante. I understand that Cindy can be a bit much. I really need to train her better.” At this the redhead spun to the gym leader. “Do I look like a growlithe to you?” As the couple started to bicker Dante and Luna backed out and quickly left the gym, lest they somehow get involved in the upcoming lover's quarrel.


	11. What They Do in Shadows

The night after Dante’s second badge was won the trainer was happily asleep in his room at the pokemon center. Luna was curled up at the foot of his bed, staring out the window and watching the full moon. The young eevee always had a fascination with the moon, the way it cut through the darkness, illuminating everything with it’s light.

Luna thought back to when she first met Dante. The eevee was always aware that she was different, especially since her family had abandoned her. The eevee simply wandered through the forests where she had been born. Scared of every shadow or movement. Until she came across a clearing, lit up by the full moon. Luna didn’t know what else to do, so she ran towards it, unknowingly waking up a couple raticate that had been sleeping among the grass. They had pounced on her, quite angry. Luna had screamed and ran away as fast as she could, but the raticate were faster. All Luna could do was run with the moonlight, until a bright light hit her, scaring off the raticate.

Luna looked up to see a brown haired boy holding a flashlight. He flicked off the light and crouched down. “Hey little one…” He whispered softly, holding out his hand. The eevee cautiously stepped forward, taking a sniff of his hand before rubbing her face into his palm. The boy picked her up carefully and started walking off. “I’m sure the professor would want to give you a look over…” the brunette mumbled. That night Luna slept in a carrier in the lab.

The next morning, Luna was examined by Professor Oak, who informed his intern, Dante, that the eevee was separated from its family at too young an age, meaning that its best chances of survival would be for it to be with a trainer. Dante happily offered, even though he wasn’t licensed, with the professor hesitantly agreeing. With a quick tap of a pokeball the rest was history.

Luna was snapped from memory lane from the slight sound of the room’s window opening. Three small shadows were in the windows, two of which were lifting the window. Once the window was opened a bit, the third slid through. Luna lidded her eyes, carefully watching the shape, which as it got closer Luna could see it was a meowth, sneaking towards Dante. It reached for his belt, which was lazily dropped on his bag and picked it up, along with the pokeballs attached to it.

Once the meowth was almost out the window, Luna sprung, using Quick Attack to fly towards them, yipping all the way. The three meowths scrambled out, with Luna following through. Dante snapped awake and got up, running towards the window and watched as Luna ran after them. 

The meowths ran through Cerulean down to Route 5, with Luna in hot pursuit. As the meowth started to tire, they all agreed that now would be the time to start fighting. The three meowths stopped and turned to Luna, their claws glowing white and elongating. Two meowths ran forward swiping at Luna with Fury Swipe. The eevee tackled at one of the meowths, then rebounded off of it to attack the other with Quick Attack. Both of these meowths scrambled off, leaving only the meowth still holding onto Dante’s belt. This meowth dropped the belt and ran up, slashing at Luna with its claws. The eevee squealed and bit down on its arm, only to get kicked by the meowth and knocked back. 

Luna growled, looking at her opponent, illuminated by the moon. An energy coursed through Luna, never felt by her before. The eevee leapt up into the air, an orb of darkness materializing in front of her mouth, and growing larger with every moment. Luna slammed the orb down into the ground, causing a huge explosion that knocked back the meowth and scaring it off. Luna carefully walked over to Dante’s belt and picked it up with her mouth. 

“Luna?” Dante’s voice rang out. The eevee spun around and happily bound over to her trainer, who nealt down and started to pet her. “Hey… I saw you fighting that meowth. Did you… did you just learn Shadow Ball?” The eevee simply nodded. Dante smiled. “Wow, and you did that just to save our friends? You really are something else.” with one final pet Dante’s hand left the eevee’s head, who then started to glow with a bright light.

The eevee’s body started to elongate, her fur getting shorter and more sleek. As the glow diminished, Luna shook her head and looked up at her trainer, yipping happily. “Umbreon!” the newly-evolved pokemon mumbled, accidentally dropping her trainer’s belt. Dante smiled and picked it up. “Thank you very much. Y’know, your name fits a lot more now.” the trainer chuckled, walking back towards Cerulean. “C’mon. Let’s get back to the pokecenter. You could probably use a touch up before we get back to bed.” The umbreon followed uneasily, stumbling over her long legs. Luna looked up at her trainer, feeling a multitude of emotions, but happiness and tiredness rising to the top most prominently. The umbreon walked closer to her trainer, brushing up against his leg. Dante smiled and scratched her ear.


End file.
